Last to Know
by Bullet2tm
Summary: AU. What do you do when you're the last to know? Darien and Serena have never got along. It starts when he saves her from someone inscrutable, then their friends start to notice what's going on. Then Diamond and Beryl get in the way - its all a mess. But its their mess and he wouldn't have her any other way - she's his meatball head and no one else can pick on her but him.


**A/N: **_Hi, thought I'd make a little story dedicated to Serena and Darien. I love this couple, they're so cute! This story will consist of parts. Darien and Serena are in the same year and they are all in the same school. Sailor Moon will not be featured in this story. Please read and review and tell me what you think. There are certain adult aspects to this story as well, as you will see. Nothing too major this time. Also, I haven't proof read this, so I apologise for mistakes. Its late and I wanna go to bed, sorry! And thanks.  
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**Part I: Darien's a Jerk and Serena is thankful  
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><p>Serena Tsukino was pretty average at most things, like cooking (horrible actually!), homework and studying, riding a bike...but there was one thing she excelled at.<p>

"Idiot! You wouldn't know how to be chivalrous if it bit you on the ass!" exclaimed Serena, holding her fist up and shaking it in annoyance.

"Ha! I'm surprised you can even say the word chivalrous or even know what it means, Meatball Head!" laughed the annoyance in her life.

"Excuse me?! I got a very high score on my last test I'll have you know, jerk!" snapped Serena as she sipped on her milkshake, her eyes narrowed at Darien Shields whom sat across from her.

"Dumb ass!"

"Jerk!"

"Air head!"

"Asshole!"

Yes. Serena Tsukino excelled at riling up Darien to a point where he would explode.

Both Darien and Serena shot up from their seats and glared at each other, their faces close and their fists clenched at their sides and their eyes narrowed in anger.

Next to them, their friends sighed, clearly not amused by their usual fighting that ensued simply because Darien was _trying_ to be nice to her for a change by allowing her to take her seat before him.

She took this to be a sinister act and it all started from there.

Serena felt a hand on her forearm and she looked to her left to see Ami looking at her anxiously.

"Come on guys, not again, we just got here," sighed Ami, her eyes full of disappointment.

Serena snapped her head back at Darien. "Then tell _Darien_ to stop being such a jerk then-"

"ME?! I was trying to be nice to you but you _always_ have to be so...argh! Annoying!" exclaimed Darien as he looked to his right to see Andrew shaking his head.

"If it weren't for Ami and Mina being friends with Andrew and Chad, I wouldn't even be here! I don't know how my friends stand to be in the same room with you, let alone friends!" she exclaimed.

She was so very angry right now. It seemed to be always Darien that caused this anger. He always rubbed her the wrong way, either the way he talked about girls as if they were a pathetic waste of space or the way he always had to start a fight with her.

"Yeah? That so? No wonder you don't have a boyfriend, they'd never touch nor look at an annoying little brat who always has to have her way!" the words were out of his mouth before he realised how harsh they'd sounded.

The truth was, if Serena Tsukino wasn't so annoying, he'd probably be interested in a girl like her. She was beautiful, leggy, had long blonde hair and had the most captivating blue eyes and a pretty smile.

She was gorgeous, but her personality, well, right off the bat they didn't see eye to eye. They were in high school now and were upper classmen.

Serena's eyes widened as she looked down at the table.

She turned to her right but Mina knew what she wanted and so moved out of the booth without a word. Her eyes looked up at Serena and she felt for her, even though this time Serena _had_ started the fight.

Serena grabbed her school bag, slung it over her shoulder and left without a word. Darien quietly watched her leave, a little regret and remorse in his eyes.

"Low blow, dude," said Andrew quietly.

"Why do you two always have to do this?" exclaimed Mina, sitting back down next to Ami.

Ami watched through the window as Serena slowly walked to the bus stop. She'd always been neutral from their bickering but today it had escalated too far.

Darien shook his head. "She just annoys me," he said, taking his glass and taking a sip of his drink.

"Why though? There are plenty of other girls just like her-"

"Wrong, my friend. There are zero girls like Serena! She's a handful that one and so cheery all the time-" explained Andrew with a smile but paused as he glanced to the right at his friend. "-err well, when she's not arguing with Dazza here."

Darien scowled at his friend, clearly not happy with his stupid nickname.

"She's always hated me, I guess," shrugged Darien, not really sure himself as to why she'd disliked him from the beginning.

Sometimes he contemplated as to why and even, deep down (in his subconscious) wished that she didn't.

Ami shook her head knowing full well that Serena didn't hate him but chose not to say that. It would just start a whole other conversation - one that she didn't think that Darien would handle right now.

"Now lets not dampen the day by talking about Meatball head. Onto other news, I made the baseball team...again," smiled Darien.

"So did I!" exclaimed Andrew, holding up his palm to Darien as they hi-fived each other.

Chad, whom had remained silent this whole time had let his mind wander to a certain black haired girl who worked up at the temple.

OOO-OOO

Serena had bitterly let a few tears fall about what Darien had said, but quickly wiped them away. She would _not_ allow Darien to get the upper hand on her, no way.

She didn't know why or how it had escalated or even why she'd wanted to fight with him today. It wasn't the fact that it put her off guard when he was actually nice to her today or even when he smiled at her in the hall when it was just them in between third period and lunch. No. It had to be the fact that she got a huge assignment in her worst class. It had to be!

She laughed dumbly. Usually she'd be arguing with Darien right about now as they both walked back home together since they lived pretty close to each other, much to her dismay.

_She'd first met Darien in middle school when he started going out with her best friend Rei. _

_"This is my boyfriend, Darien Shields," exclaimed Rei as she pulled Serena over toward him._

_She sheepishly looked up at him and smiled brightly, holding out her hand. _

_"I'm Serena Tsukino, nice to meet you," she said cheerfully, looking up at him to find that he wasn't smiling but shook her hand nonetheless. _

_Her own smile faltered a bit. _

_"Yeah, I know who you are. You're the girl whose shoes always seem to find my head," he said, almost unpleasantly._

_"O-oh, I'm sorry!" she said with an awkward smile as she rubbed the back of her neck apologetically. "I'm a klutz you see."_

_"Tch. Yeah I noticed," he said snappishly. "Nice to meet you." Their hands let go of the other and went back to their sides.  
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_Serena put on a smile again but there was just something about him that made her feel uneasy. He was very attractive with his sharp blue eyes, hewas tall, had a deep voice for his age and seemed to look quite athletic. _

_Rei had chosen well if she went by physical looks, but the way he'd talked to her on their first meeting did not bode well. _

_She looked at Rei who only seemed to be practically drooling as she clung to his arm like a weird bug._

_"So, what class are you in?" asked Serena, trying to make conversation._

_"1A," he said as he looked down at Rei and smiled. _

_"Ah I see, that's near ours," smiled Serena. _

_"Did we really come here to talk about school?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Anyways, Rei and I should go...talk."_

_Serena's eyes widened, understanding what he was saying and watched as Rei muttered a quick 'bye bye' as they walked off around a corner, leaving Serena utterly stunned and actually...annoyed. _

_**The nerve of that boy, **she'd immediately thought as she gripped her school bag tightly._

_Over the next week, Serena had seen more and more of Darien Shields and each time her opinion of him became worse. _

_One day, a week or so later, she caught him talking to another girl and they seemed pretty cosy. The girl, she'd recognised as Tayuya Yuna - a girl who was well known to go after a lot of the popular attractive guys. She didn't have many female friends. _

_She had her hand around Darien's tie, pulling him closer toward her face. Serena would be damned to let Rei's heart be broken by this cheating idiot. _

_Serena stormed over to hall where the lockers were, which was empty apart from the three of them. They had just finished detention and Darien and this girl Tayuya happened to be in it too. _

_"You cheating jerk!" exclaimed Serena, her blue orbs blazing with fury. _

_Darien looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. _

_"Its not-"_

_"Don't open your idiot mouth. I've disliked you from the start and I've kept my mouth shut for Rei, but this is just...**unbelievable**!" she exclaimed, ignoring Tayuya's glares. _

_"Serena...its not like that. She-"_

_"Shut up! You don't get to talk!"_

_"Who died and made you boss, huh?!" he exclaimed, Tayuya now forgotten and pushed to the side as he stormed over toward Serena. "I didn't_ **do**_ anything, she came onto me and I was about to tell her to stop."__  
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_Serena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, likely story. But as I have no proof, I can't tell Rei about this because I know it will hurt her. Mark my words, Darien, I'll be watching you," she snarled angrily. _

_She turned sharply, her long pony tails swishing behind her. _

_"And I'll be watching you, Meatball head," he snapped, causing Serena to look back at him and narrow her eyes. However, she didn't respond and continued on her way. _

_A few weeks later, Darien and Rei broke up mutually, deciding to be friends. This of course was the start of their motley group. _

_Ami, another one of Serena's friends, met a guy named Greg and that in turn introduced them to Andrew who was best friends with Darien. And thus began their friendship group, meaning that Serena and Darien **had** to hang out together and **had** to try and get along. _

_It didn't work so well._

_A few weeks after being introduced to Andrew, Serena found herself at the train station. She'd just gotten off when she heard that familiar yet annoying voice. _

_"Meatball head, are you following me?" he asked in jest. _

_Serena verbally growled and turned to look behind her at Darien whom held the biggest grin. "No. I'm actually ahead of you," she said, turning and holding her chin up in defiance. _

_She would not get angry, she would not get angry. And so she kept that mantra going in her head until she realised that Darien was **following** her. _

_"You know, I knew you were weird but stalking is an all new low for you," she finally said, her slow walking coming to a stop. _

_Darien had his bag over his shoulder, his tie was loosened and his shirt was buttoned down to the third button from the top. If Serena actually thought about it, he was actually pretty...hot. He was so cool and calm all the time, except when he was yelling at her or laughing at her, and he was certainly easy on the eyes and tall. He was smart, good at sports and seemed to care about his friends. _

_But, he always irritated her. _

_"Stalking? I'm on my way home, Meatball head-"_

_"Stop calling me that, jerk!" she exclaimed angrily, narrowing her eyes up at him as he continued walking past her. _

_Serena started to walk again too. "I would if it weren't for that weird hair style of yours," he said with a laugh._

_A few minutes later, they were in step with each other as they walked down the road. _

_"And for the record, the reason I do my hair like this is because its really long and so I do a bun at the top so it doesn't get in the way," she said finally, looking everywhere but at him when she spoke. _

_"Oh, I see. Why not cut it?" he asked absently. _

_"I donno, I'd look ugly with short hair, trust me," she said with a laugh. _

_"No you wouldn't," and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. _

_Serena raised an eye brow and looked up at him with an amused smile. "Really? You think so?" _

_"Well...I just mean that it wouldn't make a difference," he said, saving himself before she got the wrong idea. _

_Serena nodded and wondered why she felt a slight irritation from his words. Did she want him to compliment her? _

_"Maybe I will cut it," she said to herself, looking to the ground in thought. _

_"No. Don't cut it," Darien said quietly with an unreadable expression._

_A few moments passed and when he looked down at Serena, her eyes held confusion at his words. "Then I couldn't call you Meatball head anymore."_

_This made her wonder why she even had the **thought** that they could actually be friends!_

_"Jerk!"_

Serena reached her house and shook her head. And that's why she disliked Darien Shields, sometimes she forgot why but thinking about middle school always reminded her.

To think, if only she could look past his irritating comments and lack of propriety toward her, then he would probably be one of her most closest friends.

OOO-OOO

She decided the next day that she would prove Darien wrong.

Serena had never really taken much interest in finding a boyfriend. Sure she had the odd weak moment of ogling a really hot guy or drooling over some of the baseball players from other schools.

She'd never really made a concerted effort to actually get a boyfriend but now that she'd been mocked, she was determined to prove that Darien was just a fool who didn't know _anything_ about her.

She turned up to the class, late as usual but luckily the teacher had yet to arrive.

Serena plonked herself down at her desk quickly.

"Late again, Tsukino," said a voice next to her.

It was Lita. Their newest friend whom had transferred to the school for her last year of high school. Serena turned and smiled. "Yeah, timing is not my strong suit," she said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck with a sheepish grin.

"You don't have a lot of strong suits, Meatball head," said Darien from behind her.

Serena turned around and poked her tongue out at Darien and used her index finger to pull down the skin beneath one of her eyes.

"So lady like," he drawled.

"Shut up, jerk," she said angrily. "Its too early in the morning to deal with your crap."

Serena turned back around and faced Lita whom was watching the exchange with a small knowing smile.

"You know, you two remind me of an old married couple," said Lita with a laugh.

Both Darien and Serena's faces began to turn a nice red hue. "Huh?!" they both exclaimed at once.

"With her?"

"With him?"

This caused Lita to laugh uncontrollably. "You're always bickering but the way you look at each other, well, it says another story."

Suddenly they looked at each other, their faces even redder than before and they began to start arguing. The arguing was getting louder and louder until finally the whole classroom began to watch them out of curiosity.

"There's no way I would ever think of that with..._you!_"

"Yeah likewise, its like a bear going out with a fish!"

"You're the fish, Darien, so squirmy and smelly!"

"Where do you get off thinking that huh? Haven't looked in the mirror have you?"

"Oh you jerk!"

"Probably can't see much past those meatballs of yours!"

"Yeah? At least when I look in the mirror, I don't see a jerk faced, cold hearted ice man!"

"Nice come back, meatball head, guess it takes one to know one!"

"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" exclaimed someone from the front of the class room.

Both Serena and Darien looked to the front to see the teacher angrily glaring at them. She was a middle aged woman with black hair tied into a tight bun at the top and a pin stripe work suit. She always wore her hair the same everyday and alternated work suits. Sometimes she wore slacks and sometimes a skirt. Today it was a skirt, so she looked even more uptight than usual.

Her name was Mrs Tanzo and she was probably more strict than most teachers at their school.

"Detention for both of you this afternoon!" she exclaimed shrilly.

Darien groaned and glared at Serena with a 'its your fault' look. She snapped her head back at Darien with the exact same expression on her face.

Meanwhile, Lita stared at the two with a smirk.

_Can't help true love, I guess,_ she thought.

So Serena's day had started off brilliantly...not.

OOO-OOO

"Oh! Haru is so dreamy!" said Serena to Mina and Lita as they walked to the cafeteria.

Serena had been ogling Haru Matsutomi whom was a blonde haired popular guy from class 3C. He stood with his friends in the hall as they talked about something to do with sport, but Serena just stared at him as they began to walk toward them.

He was a tall young man with toned arms and was almost as tall as Darien. His hair was a little long and spiky, he had green eyes and had an outgoing personality. Suddenly he turned as Serena was walking past and smiled at her.

Serena had met him a few times through Rei and Chad and had always got on with him. She was sort of attracted to him but was being especially interested in him today on the count of her little pact with herself to prove Darien Shields wrong.

Suddenly he jogged over to her and stopped in front of her.

Lita and Mina frowned in confusion and then smiled. "We'll meet you at the usual spot in the cafeteria, Sere," said Mina and waved.

Serena nodded in acknowledgement and then turned and looked up at Haru.

"Hi Haru," she said, her eyes finding his own, wondering what he wanted with her.

"Hey Serena. So I was wondering, did you wanna go out to the game arcade tonight for a milkshake?" he asked, not sounding nervous in the slightest.

"U-uh, I can't tonight sorry. I have detention," she stuttered. She was simply stunned at how forward he was being, although, Haru _was_ known for his outgoing personality.

"Hmm, tomorrow night then?"

Serena nodded with a smile. "Absolutely."

Haru smiled brightly. "Awesome, its a date. Lets meet at 4.30 tomorrow."

As he walked away, she stood still unable to fathom what had just happened.

"Sooo, the meatball head _can_ snatch a date, huh?" mocked Darien from behind her.

Serena snarled. "Its your fault it can't be tonight!" she snapped, poking her index finger into his surprisingly hard chest.

Darien rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand. She flinched at the sudden touch as he pulled her hand away from his chest.

"If I recall, you were arguing too," he said, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

They began to walk toward the cafeteria where their friends were waiting. "Yeah because you couldn't just _not_ talk-"

"Tch. I could say the same of you, idiot. You don't think I have somewhere I'd rather be this afternoon?" he said as they reached the end of the hall.

Serena had nothing to say about that really. "Oh? Have a hot date too?"

Darien didn't respond straight away and instead, pulled her shoulder so she would turn and face him. "Just be careful of Haru, Serena. He's not a nice guy-"

Serena's eyes widened and then suddenly narrowed with suspicion. "Oh and you are? What would you know?" she asked icily, her blue orbs meeting his own.

Darien was only trying to help her, not that he actually felt he should. Why was he trying to help again? Why did he care?

"Just forget it then, you deserve what you get," he snapped and bumped past her shoulder to get to the door to the cafeteria.

OOO-OOO

Detention had been a drag and so they found themselves at the train station. After finding out their train wouldn't be here for another ten minutes they proceeded to sit on the bench to wait.

When Darien sat down next to Serena, he accidentally kicked her in the leg.

"Sor-" he began when he felt pain in his own leg. She'd kicked him back!

So he kicked her again and she kicked back all the while glaring at each other heatedly. They continued this until Darien stopped and just stared at her angrily.

Their legs were now having a war in strength, pushing against the other to which Darien was clearly winning and their faces were inches apart with competitive expressions of anger.

Finally Serena realised she was losing and when she relinquished her hold it caused her to lose her balance on the chair and her face fell straight into his lap.

Darien's eyes widened and his face went bright red. Serena was up in a flash with an equally red face and then they fell into silence.

"T-that was your fault," said Serena quietly as her eyes focused on the train tracks in front of her.

"Oh yeah? How'd you come to that conclusion? I didn't know that you were so desperate for a boyfriend that you'd resort to that kind of tactic," snapped Darien coldly, absolutely embarrassed by what had just occurred that he automatically as a defense mechanism, mocked her harshly.

Serena gasped and snapped her head in his direction once more. "W-what?! I didn't do it on purpose and...and...I wouldn't do such a thing! Least of all to you, you pervert!"

"Me the pervert? You just had your face...down there!" he said, pointing at his crotch.

"As if I would! I'm in high school, I've never-I would never go near _you_ like that!" she exclaimed in embarrassment, her cheeks getting hot.

Darien frowned not really knowing why that sort of hurt his feelings. Most girls could only dream of being this close to him, with all the confessions he'd had to deal with over the years at school. In fact a girl just last week had confessed to him to which he turned her down on the count of him not actually knowing who the hell she was.

They fell into silence again and then their train arrived.

OOO-OOO

Rei, Mina, Ami and Lita sat at the cafeteria and began to gossip, as they usually did at lunch time. Serena was in the library, trying to study since a paper was due tomorrow for chemistry.

"So," began Lita. "I know I'm new and all, but what's with the sexual tension between Serena and Darien?"

Rei's eyes practically bulged out of her eye sockets, Mina spat out her orange juice she'd just sipped from a popper and Ami coughed as a chunk of rice ball went down the wrong way.

All three girls stared at Lita as if she were an alien.

"I'm sorry, what?!" exclaimed Rei but noticing the onlookers at her outburst, deciding to whisper. "What?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice they're always bickering and fighting," explained Lita as she popped a mini octopus into her mouth with her chopsticks.

Mina laughed as she used her napkin to clean up the juice she'd sprayed onto the table at across her mouth. "Well, that's Darien and Serena for ya."

"Yeah, they've been doing that since middle school when I used to date him," explained Rei with an amused look.

Ami remained quiet and continued to eat her rice ball slowly.

Lita's brow furrowed in thought. "Huh, I'll be damned. I know you probably think I'm weird for saying this but...they're madly in love with each other."

Rei laughed loudly with Mina and Ami remained silent still.

"Oh that's good, Lita!" laughed Rei, gasping for air.

"You're so funny, girl," snickered Mina, slapping Lita on the back a couple of times.

Lita was smiling, just from the contagious laughter but her eyes looked at Ami whom was still eating her rice ball quietly. "Ami, what do you think?" she asked.

"Oh, she's serious," said Rei as she settled down from her laughter.

Mina's laughing also came to a stop as they all looked to Ami who had just finished eating. She used a napkin to wipe her mouth delicately before looking upward at the girls.

"I agree with Lita. I don't know if they're madly in love but there's definitely something going on with them," said Ami with a nod.

"Whoa," said Rei her eyes wide as she glanced at Mina.

"I know you guys don't think so but I've been observing them over the years sometimes. I've always wondered how two people can be at each others throats so much and the conclusion to that is that they're at _least_ attracted to one another," explained Ami as if she were reciting a mathematical solution.

Rei dropped her chopsticks and they landed on the floor. Mina dropped her juice box, landing in her fried rice.

"You're right, Ami!" said Lita with realisation. "So I wasn't crazy then."

"Oh. My. God," breathed Rei their words also made a connection in her head.

"No way," said Mina with a frown. "Although, I did catch them once having a normal conversation when it was just the two of them. I saw it by accident. They were in the locker room and didn't notice me enter. I can't remember what it was about since it was like two years ago, but, I always remember that day because it was the first time I thought that if they weren't always fighting, they'd probably make a great couple."

Rei laughed. "Oh dear and they don't even know," began Rei, bringing her open hands to her mouth, her eyes upon the others.

"_What_ don't _who_ know?" asked Serena from behind them.

"Ah! Well, you see-" began Lita as she began to spout off some lie about two random people in their class.

Ten minutes later, the boys joined their table. Chad, Andrew and Darien.

The four girls, whom knew a very important secret amongst each other, began to observe the two very closely and would do so from now on.

"So, how was detention yesterday?" asked Rei to Serena.

Serena, whom had been freely gutsing into her riceball, stopped and stared at Rei; her demeanor darkening quickly. She wiped her mouth and swallowed.

"Okay I guess," said Serena with a frown. "Why?"

"Oh no reason. I would have thought that you two wouldn't survive that long alone together," said Rei, trying to stir the pot so they all had a chance to observe them in their natural habitat.

Darien rolled his eyes. "I'm a survivor, so I can endure the annoyance that is Serena meatball head Tsukino," said Darien with a smirk.

Rei observed that he looked straight at Serena. She never noticed it before but he did tend to smile at her as if...as if it made him happy to fight with her. Rei had always thought that when he smiled at Serena, it was to mock her or was mirthful. But that wasn't the case at all.

Serena automatically seethed, it was in her nature. She glared down the table at him and poked her tongue out. "Jerk," she muttered.

And Rei noticed that Serena had no idea.

Just what was going on?!

OOO-OOO

Serena waited outside the game arcade at 4.30 for Haru. Finally after fifteen minutes he showed up with a smile.

"Hey Serena, sorry I'm late. But I've got a better idea, come over here," he said, his green eyes flashing with something she didn't recognise, but put that aside realising she was just being paranoid.

She followed him down the street utill they came to an alleyway and continued to follow him. She turned around to see two more of his friends show up and she turned to look at Haru with concern.

"What's going on? I thought this was-"

"Oh Serena, we're going to have some fun," said Haru with a sinister smile upon his face. He walked toward her but she backed away, her school bag clenched tightly to her side.

As she backed away, she bumped into one of his friends who pushed her back toward him. Her face landed onto Haru's chest, she tried to back away but Haru wrapped his arm around her back tightly. He threw her school bag next to the dumpster behind him.

"I've been watching you, you're so cute, especially when you're angry. Somehow, it always seems to be around that Shields idiot, he has no idea what he's doing by fighting with you," smiled Haru sweetly as he placed a hand on her silky soft cheek.

Serena glared up at him with tears in her eyes. But nonetheless, Haru got what he wanted because she was angry.

Angry because Darien had of course been right about Haru and angry because Haru _thought_ that he was going to have his way with her.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice wavering as the rage was beginning to show through.

"Because its fun and because I like it when girls are scared. They're so scared that they never say a thing about what I do to them," he smirked. "Now, come on Serena, don't fight it."

He turned and pulled her by placing his hand at the back of her neck tightly and pushed her toward a door. One of his friends opened the door and he threw her inside.

"Haru-"

"Oh dear, my name isn't Haru, Serena. Its actually Jadeite but I had to change my name since I had to transfer to this crappy Juuban High School, mainly because of my extra curricular activities," smirked Jadeite.

"W-what?" exclaimed Serena. She got to her feet and backed up to what looked like a couch.

She turned to see that it was some kind of den, did they hang out here? Did he bring other victims here? There was a large corner couch, a large flat screen television and a bed in the corner.

The bed bothered her. Suddenly the door was closed and it was just the two of them now.

OOO-OOO

Darien walked past the game arcade and looked at his watch. It was 4.45. He glanced up the street and thought he saw long blonde pony tails near the alleyway almost a block up from the game arcade.

He frowned and wondered what Serena would be doing up there and not at her date with that inscrutable and dodgy guy, Haru. Not that he cared.

Haru had transferred to Juuban High School this year and for some reason, Darien recognised him from somewhere. As his mind connected the dots and before his mind could catch up to him, he was already crossing the road; already half way up toward the alleyway.

He spotted two of Haru's friends outside a door at the end of the alley. They seemed to be guarding the door. He was about to engage them when someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Yo, Dare, whatcha doin', dude?" asked Chad with his hands in his pockets on his way to the arcade.

_Impeccable timing,_ thought Darien darkly. Upon second thought, it was actually a blessing.

"I was about to question these guys actually, want to come with?" asked Darien, with a smirk.

Chad was no genius but he understood Darien's meaning. After all, he had been in a few street fights before and even had participated in a junior fight club until Rei's grand father came upon him and decided to take him under his wing to train him properly.

Chad nodded and followed Darien.

"Hey, I know you guys right?" started Darien, walking up to them with a disarming smile.

One of them frowned and looked to the other with panic in their eyes.

"Err, no?" said the other. "So buzz off."

Darien looked to Chad with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, that's no way to talk to a fellow upper classman. What's behind the door?" asked Chad, his eyes gazing at the door.

The other young man blocked his view of the door and narrowed his brown eyes. He was stocky and quite big around the middle. "None of your business, now go away."

"Sorry lads, but we really want to know what's behind that door."

OOO-OOO

Serena was backed up to the couch and Jadeite was getting pleasure out of seeing fear on her face.

"Come now, Serena, I won't bite," he said, grabbing her by the neck and throwing her onto the couch.

He jumped on top of her with his legs in between her own and leaned over her. His breath was on her neck as she turned her head away instinctively.

She punched him in the jaw, causing his head to turn. But when he turned back, he didn't look pleased.

"You'll pay for that," he said quietly as he grabbed her arms and held them firmly above her head. His eyes glinted with what could only be described as joy.

As he leaned down to steal a kiss from her, the door crashed open.

Serena looked over at the door and to her surprise, there stood Darien. She could hear grunting and noises from outside and then a thud. She saw one of Jadeite's friends land on the ground and was out for the count and then suddenly Chad was standing in the doorway.

His eyes scanned the room and then fell on Serena in a compromising position with tears in her eyes. Her shirt had been pulled a fair way up and the bottom of her bra was exposed.

"Serena!" he exclaimed and his eyes landed on the guy on top of her.

"_Jadeite_, yeah, now I remember you. Praying on innocent girls, can you not get a girl any other way?" asked Darien. His words sounded humorous and mocking but they only masked his utter anger at what he'd found behind this door.

"What do you care, Shields? You care less for this girl than I do!" exclaimed Jadeite angrily. He got up off of Serena, letting her go, and stood to face Darien with fire in his eyes.

"Tch. You think that, do you? You think you can rape a girl and think I'd be okay with that?! There's only one person allowed to pick on her and that's _me_," snarled Darien angrily.

Jadeite laughed. "Good old Darien, always the party pooper like always. I wonder what Beryl will think of this-"

"Don't utter her name around me, Jadeite," snapped Darien, clenching his fists at his sides to stop him from smashing the living daylights out of the guy in front of him.

Jadeite smirked and walked toward the door. Chad looked to Darien whom turned and nodded; signalling to let him leave.

"The boys want you back, Darien. There isn't a place you can hide," said Jadeite before leaving.

Darien looked over at Serena who was now on her feet.

"Y-you saved me," she stuttered in surprise. She fixed herself and pulled her shirt down once realising that Darien could see more of her than she liked, as he had to look away with tinged red cheeks.

"Don't think too much into it," he said coldly, a little mad at her for not heeding his advice yesterday.

Serena frowned but tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and began to fall freely. She didn't wail, like she normally would. No, this wasn't the time to put on her selfish, needy act.

She walked up to him and did something so unlike her and wrapped her arms around him in thanks.

"Oh god, Darien, I was so scared-" she began, her head against his chest, but he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away from him forcibly.

"Then why the hell didn't you listen to me?" he snarled, his blue eyes staring down at her furiously.

He thought this girl was annoying and not that bright and of course she was pretty selfish at times, but she didn't deserve what ever Jadeite was going to do to her. No one did.

"I-" began Serena. Darien expected her to argue with him and yell at him, like she usually would.

But she didn't. She was just a girl who had almost been defiled; not the meatball head that he loathed _oh_ so much.

No, she was just Serena, the girl that unbeknownst to him - had come barreling into his life without him knowing all those years ago.

"I-I'm sorry," she said, unexpectedly. Her tears continued to cascade down her beautiful face and Darien could no longer keep up his act with her.

They were friends after all, even though they pretended to hate each other most of the time.

He sighed and pulled her toward him. She wrapped her arms around his broad torso and cried.

Chad watched on curiously. There was something about those two that made him want what they had.

OOO-OOO


End file.
